Prison sentence for guilty plea

Schenectady man will serve federal, state terms concurrently

Updated 10:22 pm, Tuesday, February 12, 2013

ALBANY — A triggerman for a violent Schenectady street gang was sentenced Tuesday to nearly eight years in federal prison.

Kevin McGough, 23, of Schenectady, who is already serving up to 15 years in state prison for possessing weapons and stolen property, will serve the 7¾-year federal term concurrently with his state time.

McGough, a member of the Uptown Gunners gang based in Schenectady's Central State Street neighborhood, was among 19 members and associates of the gang charged last March by federal prosecutors in Albany.

McGough pleaded guilty to racketeering in October, admitting that he shot at a rival gang member on July 21, 2010, on Furman Street in Schenectady. Three days later, McGough admitted, he and two accomplices exchanged gunfire with members of Schenectady's Four Block street gang. Then on April 3, 2011, he again opened fire at a rival on Furman Street.

In the plea deal, McGough admitted possessing one gun on Sept. 21, 2010, and possessing more weapons Oct. 1, 2010, on Bradley Street including three handguns, one of which was stolen, a stolen semiautomatic rifle and a high-capacity ammunition feeder.

He also said he sold more than 28 grams of crack cocaine, and peddled 2 ounces of crack to an informant on Sept. 15, 2011.

On Tuesday, more than a dozen well-wishers attended McGough's sentencing before U.S. District Court Senior Judge Thomas McAvoy, who told McGough he had engaged in "very, very dangerous" conduct that placed bystanders in jeopardy.

"You're a relatively young man. You can't go back to the kind of life you've been leading," the judge said. "Mr. McGough, I just hope this is the beginning of a new life for you."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Hanlon described McGough's conduct as egregious, but said the defendant had accepted responsibility for his crimes "quicker than anyone else in this case."

McGough's attorney, Donald Kinsella, asked the judge in a presentencing memo to give McGough a sentence concurrent with his state time. He said that both McGough's father and brother also are in federal prison, and that McGough has had previous trouble with the law.

"Mr. McGough did not commit these offenses because he is a sociopath," Kinsella wrote. "He formed an association with his friends in the neighborhood because that is what friends do. The lack of judgment of the group supported the personal lack of judgment exhibited. He knows, and knew, that such activities are illegal and wrong. He recognizes now that he hurt himself and he knows that he did hurt his family by his actions that have caused his removal from their lives."

McGough also received three years of post-release supervision and cannot drink alcohol or associate with gang members.